I started this blog in 2009 to document what I ate, what I read, and how much I ran leading up to the NYC marathon. While I did manage to drag myself over the finish line, I have since decided I am not a marathon runner. I have also decided that while running, food, and reading are no longer the centre of my life, they remain an integral part of helping me centre and appreciate my life. They help me realize that it's not that serious...

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Day 64 = A Perfect 10

I know...it summer vacay and the geeky teacher in me is still doing math whenever possible.

You know what's even more geeky? Using that 6 + 4 = 10 as a metaphor for meaning that yesterday was a perfect day.

Yesterday was a perfect day.

I woke up at whatever time my eyes happened to open, poured myself a cup of coffee, cracked open my first book of the summer and started reading.
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And kept reading.

And kept reading.

I told myself to stop reading at one point because it was getting late and I wanted to go running before it got too hot but I didn't listen to what I said and an hour and half later, I found myself wiping away tears, feeling that exhausted satisfaction you only feel after finishing a really good book.

Intermission: You need to hear about this book.Now, technically, it is classified as Young Adult Fiction, which may leave you feeling like this isn't the book for you. I am here to tell you you're wrong. The whole thing about reading is that we get to escape for a little while into a life that is completely different than our own. So why no escape into a world we'll never get go back to: our youth? In addition, there are themes, ideas, and subtle messages in this book that I really don't think I would've appreciated if I would've been reading as the 15-year old me. Or even the 20-year old me. This is a book about a teenage boy's struggle with OCD and how he's falling in love with one of the girls in his support group. This book made me cry really big "The Notebook" tears. This book is precisely why I do love young adult fiction; it's an easy and fast read, like a typical "beach book" but with much better writing, deeper meaning, and really well developed characters. Reading regular fiction often helps me understand myself better, but reading really good young adult fiction often helps me understand both myself and my kids better. I very highly recommend this book.

When I finally did get my shoes laced up and my butt out the door, it was really, really hot. But sadly, not as hot as inside my house since the air-con was on the fritz. Luckily, I was still thinking about the book so this distracted me for a while. And more luckily, I live in an awesome city where between the plethora of city parks and community centres, I'm never more than a kilometer or two away from a water fountain.

I finished my run, completely exhausted and beyond hot, but very proud of myself for persevering. Even though I did dry heave a couple of times. (Shh...don't tell anyone)

In the evening, I met my latest and greatest best friend, Sara, for a movie. I met Sara about 10 years ago when we were both in our first full year of teaching. We have this tradition that every year, during the first week of summer break, we go watch a really stupid funny movie, laugh out butts off, and eat a really unhealthy dinner of popcorn and chocolate. This year the movie was 22 Jump Street and the chocolate was peanut butter M & Ms. Needless to say, between the movie, the "dinner", and the company, I drove home feeling very happy.

Could this day get better?

Why, yes it could! Because when I returned home, my husband had somehow found the one available repairman to come to our house and fix our air conditioning! Hooray!